The 8th final of our competition was organized in Vilnius and Paluse on 19-22 September 2018. This year, in final stage eight countries were represented: Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. These were days filled with not only hard work but also educational and tourist attractions. The finale was perfectly organized and full of surprises for the participants. The hospitality of the hosts and the beauty of the Lithuanian forests and lakes will remain in the memory of the participants.Our competition is evolving. This year, the struggles were held in national teams and the field part (integration through education) in mixed teams.The level of contest was very high and the jury had a difficult task to identify the winners. The final classification of the teams is as follows:1st Poland 82,12nd Romania 80,73rd Czech Republic 74,9Hungary 73,8Ukraine 73,8Estonia 63,8Lithuania 61Germany 56,3

The international committee is already working on the next edition of the competition. The finals will be held in the Czech Republic!See you in the beautiful mountain forests of the Czech Republic in autumn 2019!

Friday, 8th of June nine groups of young forest friends gave a visit at the Beekeeping museum in the National park of Aukstaitija. The national stage of YPEF took place. The commission were assessing the performance of teams both praising and giving advises for every group of performers. The first place was given to Jonas Zemaitis gymnasium of the Raseiniai region. The group members were Douglas Glivva, Tomas Kybartas, Domantas Pranckūnasand biology teacher Kristina Ražanienė.

YPEF National Finals of the Czech Republic was held on 13th – 14th June 2018 in the castle and the arboretum in Kostelec nad Černými lesy. The competition was organized by The Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, ČZU in Prague. The final was comprised of a short presentation on „Deciduous Trees and Their Composition in Our Forests. View for the future?“, knowledge test and practical skills the following day. In the finals 12 teams took part, which advanced from 6 regional laps and 51 local laps. Totally 2002 participants took part in the competition.

YPEF is testing the knowledge about forests and creativity of young people. It will be organized in about 10 european countries. To be won are prizes in kind and the winner team of the national stage will take part at the international Forest conference 2018, which takes place in Lithuania this year. At this conference from 19th to 21th of September 2018 the winners of all participating countries come together to discuss the status and the future of european forests. Exciting forest activities and field trips will be part of the programme.Around 60 pupils from 2 schools (Grammar schools) in 2 towns took part at the international contest of "Young People in European Forests" this year!

The Romania national competition of YPEF was on 19-22 June at Calimani National Park.15 teams participated in this stage and the winner was Colegiul Național "Andrei Muresanu" from Bistrița Năsăud (the following pupils: CucuietVlad Gabriel, Corcode Alexandra Iulia, Magda Elisa and they teacher Ms Peter Sorina Crina ).

Some pics you can find to our Ypef Romania Facebook, following the link:https://www.facebook.com/Concursul-International-YPEF-Tineri-in-padurile-Europei-952943651486025/